


the fire swallows us all

by keiyoko



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Almost everything's the same as canon, Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, BAMF Stiles, Canon Compliant up until 3a/3b, Canon-Typical Violence, Demisexuality, Developing Relationship, Explicit Language, Fae & Fairies, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Full Shift Werewolves, Humor, Mates, Multi, Nemeton, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Scott is a Bad Friend, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Service Dogs, Set during 3A and 3B, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Witches, a really dumb concept that i thought would be a cool idea, derek is a surprisingly good alpha, realistic plant knowledge, so fucking slow omg, thats where i take artistic license even if it isnt my show, the nemeton is the biggest asshole in the entire universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-22 07:13:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12476208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keiyoko/pseuds/keiyoko
Summary: Beacon Hills, for better or for worse, is slowly attracting more and more creatures of the night.  Everything goes downhill; the deadly alpha pack and serial killer/cultist come to town the same time Ky and her family arrive, this new girl isn't what she seems, (cliche, right?) and none of the pack know anything about her abilities, and neither does Ky.  The only clue they have is from the police department's newest deputy, and Deaton's cryptic comments.((alternatively; the nemeton can suck my ass))





	1. welcome to beacon hills

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello, im back at it again with OC fanfics,,,,,
> 
> and dont worry, there's no character/oc ships in here or any of that since the whole thing is complicated

With the start of sophomore year came all sorts of wild mishaps.

Stiles and Scott went hunting for a missing body, and Scott was bitten by Peter Hale the night before school started and turned into a werewolf.  One of the last Hales returned to town from New York, and Stiles met the last Hale for the first of many, many times.  A family of hunters came back to Beacon Hills.  Stiles framed Derek Hale for murder.  Twice.  Peter bit Lydia Martin next, and she rejected the bite.  Jackson threatened outing Scott in order to seek the bite, and betrayed him to the hunters.   They managed to kill the alpha, Peter, and Derek took what belonged to Laura.  Without Peter, Scott became an omega.  

Derek began building a new pack, turning unloved teenagers into werewolves.  Someone began killing former members of BHHS’s swim team, and it turned out to be another shapeshifter that Derek called the kanima.  Everything spiraled downhill when Derek’s pack suspected Lydia, and Allison’s mother attempted to kill Scott.  Jackson turned out to be the scaly homicidal lizard they were looking for, and Lydia was a banshee.  One of the pack’s classmates, Matt, turned out to be behind the kanima attacks, and Allison’s geriatric psychopath of a grandfather wrecked havoc upon Beacon Hills.  Scott had to resort to slipping Gerard mountain ash pills, simultaneously betraying and saving  Derek’s pack.

 _Man,_ Stiles thought.   _How could junior year be any worse?_  

Yeah, famous last words right there.

* * *

Stiles’ third year of high school rolled around, and he _so_ wasn’t looking forward to it.  For starters, Jackson came back from London after summer, yippee, and plus, he had Mr. Stein for first period.  That man was famous for putting students in comas with his nasally voice.  Seriously, he’d heard of students catching up on years worth of sleep during the man’s lectures.  

At the very least, Scott and Allison had to suffer with him.  

Stein started taking attendance, reading through the names slower than a text-to-speech reader.   Not even halfway through, the principal walked in with a student in tow, thank god.  Stiles sat upright, getting a look at the new girl.  So did Scott, but it might’ve been because Allison was looking at him again.  She didn’t look like much; some kind of east Asian, probably closer to Stiles’ height, shy looking, jeans and a nice jacket. The girl seemed ordinary, but then again so did most things that wanted to rip Stiles’ throat out.  Her eyes were trained on the ground, not meeting any of the class’s curious gazes.

“Students, this is Ky -- that’s your nickname, right?” He asked the girl, who mutely nodded.  “Ky Zhang.  She just moved to Beacon Hills.   Be sure to make her feel welcome.”  After giving Ky a pat on the shoulder, Principal Thomas left the classroom.  She was left awkwardly standing in the front of the room.

“Hm. There’s an empty seat by Mr. Stilinski,” Mr. Stein drawled.  Stiles waved his hand to the new girl, who gave the teacher a grateful smile before moving towards her seat.  

 _SMELLS,_ Scott signaled by poking him in the back of the neck twice.   _NO CLUE_ was two light taps following the first message.  He heavily sighed at the thought of another unknown creature running around town.  Whatever ‘Ky’ was, hopefully she wasn’t anything particularly malicious.  Or anything that could cause trouble, really.  If someone turned up  murdered before the first week of school was over, Stiles was going to cave and let his dad eat In-N-Out.

“Hi.” He said when Ky slid into the seat next to him.

She didn’t look over.  “Hi.”  At least she responded.  Progress, right?

Mr. Stein picked up the attendance roster again. “Now, where was I?  Greenberg…?  Greenberg…? Greenberg…?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”  Someone angrily snapped.  “Greenberg’s out sick.  Next person.”

Ky was quiet for most of class, only speaking when prompted.  Strangely enough, she seemed inclined to answer any questions Scott or Stiles had, sometimes leaving her other classmates hanging.  By the end of the period the boys had managed to weasel a couple of facts from her.  Ky owned two dogs, shared a couple of classes with both of them, used to live in the south bay, and that she liked the great outdoors.  Score.

As soon as the bell rang, everyone cleared the room before Stein could blink.  No one ever wanted to spend any more time in the nap-inducing class than they had to.  But for some reason, Ky stayed behind to talk with the teacher.  Weird.  They had a couple minutes to talk before second period started, but hopefully it would be enough time to exchange some words.

“You two go ahead,” Allison insisted.  “I want to talk to her.”

“But what if she turns out to be some type of supernatural nasty?”  Scott protested.

“Scott, I love you, but it’s the middle of the day.”  Stiles pointed out.  “Nothing is dumb enough to attack someone in broad daylight.  Except Matt.  But to  be honest, Matt _was_ one dumb motherfucker.”

“Look, I just want to make Ky feel welcome.  Last year, I was the new girl in a small town, so I know how she feels.  It’d be nice for someone to offer to be there for her.”

Stiles shrugged and proceeded to drag Scott behind a bank of lockers around the corner.  The beta looked worried about his girlfriend, even though New Girl hadn’t done anything yet.  “What if she’s like Matt?!”  Scott furiously hissed.  

“Somehow, I don’t think she’s going to stalk Allison and then use Jackson to murder half the town.  Just listen in on their convo, dude.”

As soon as Stiles saw Ky exit the classroom, she nearly ran into Allison.  “Hi!  My name’s Allison Argent.  I sit three seats away from you in Calc BC.  Nice to meet you!”  She said cheerfully, giving the poor girl a wide smile.

Ky looked like a deer caught in the headlights as Allison steamrolled her.  “Um...hi.  I’m Ky.  Oh, you probably already knew.”  Her phone chimed, and after she checked it Ky hurriedly stuffed it into her pocket.  “I have to get going, second period calls.”  She explained.

“No, it’s fine.  I just wanted to let you know that last year, I was the new girl in town.  So if you need anyone to talk to, I’m always around.”

“Okay.”  She said, glancing down the hallway.  Ky tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, tentatively smiling back.  “See you later, I guess.”  Ky said before walking down the corridor, the opposite way of where Scott and Stiles were trying to eavesdrop.

“Bye!”  Allison called to her retreating back.  She waited until Ky was at the end of the hallway before turning around and walking back to the boys.

Stiles practically jumped her for information when she rounded the corner to where he and Scott were waiting. “Well?  Did your keen hunter vision see anything suspicious?  Do you have any idea of what she is?  Scott couldn’t hear you guys that well, which I think is bullcrap, but whatever.”  He blurted, almost too fast for Allison to hear.

“No, she didn’t seem suspicious.  I have no clue what she is, or if she even is anything, and Scott could hear me perfectly fine.  I know how well your hearing is, Scott.”

“I’m being serious!  I couldn’t hear what Ky was saying, if that even _is_ her name.  Allison, sure, but whatever the other girl said didn’t reach me.”  He defended, crossing his arms.  “What are we supposed to do about her?  What if she murders someone after school?”

“Calm down.  It’s only break; there’s still the rest of the day.  We should tell the rest of the pack that there’s a maybe-supernatural in town, first.”  Allison decided.  “What did she even smell like?”

“It’s hard to describe.  Kind of...earthy, along with wolf.  She isn’t a werewolf, though.”

“Helpful.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

* * *

 

His next class turned out to be P.E. since like the dumbass he was, decided to pile that on  top of lacrosse.  It’s not like he really did anything in lacrosse, either.  

The minute everyone was changed and ready for P.E., their sub decided that after the standard introductory speech, no one would be doing what Finstock had planned (dodgeball) and that they’d be doing volleyball instead.  Stiles got placed on a team with Scott, thank god, at least he had someone to suffer with, but that meant he wasn’t going to be able to waste the period trying to talk to her.  At the very least, Danny was on Ky’s team, and who could resist Danny?

“She rejected me.”  Danny complained during brunch.

“I guess not all girls like you for your looks,” Lydia noted.  “Shocker.”

“No, I mean that she avoided all of my questions.  Wouldn’t even tell me what her full name was.” Danny said dazedly.  “I swear, she’s a witch.  I started probing, to see if she knows about _us_ and then a ball smacked me in the gut.  A witch could totally slam me with a ball to deflect questions.”

“So you weren’t paying attention.” Jackson huffed.  “It happens to everyone.”

“Maybe I wasn’t, but I was facing the net!  There were no balls in the air, and then all of a sudden, _wham_.  Next thing I know it, I’m on my back, and Harley is apologizing for the stray ball.  Harley’s on varsity.”

“Star athletes can have off days.  Just let it be.  Oh?  Allison’s on the groupchat.”

Danny muttered something under his breath but he had to leave for some BHOP thing.

 

**to: one hale of a pack**

**Katniss: So you know how I wanted to go to the library to study for French with Scott?**

**skillinski: yeah**

**Katniss: Ky came and sat with us!!!**

**Katniss: She wanted to get to know me better, cuz I’m the first one who’s been genuinely friendly to her.**

**Queen: So you’re going to be her version of me?**

**DantheMan: You went up to Allison, complimented her jacket, and strongarmed her into hanging out with you and Jackson.**

**Jackson: she’s nice, but does smell weird**

**puppy1: see????**

**Jackson: And for the record, that ‘hanging out’ sucked.**

**DantheMan: She seemed average in P.E. even if she didn’t answer my questions**

**Katniss: Well whatever, I’m making great progress.  Ky’s a real sweetheart, tbh.  Oh, and she said that she’s going to be working part time with Deaton?**

**puppy1: deaton said we’d be having a new part timer but that i shouldnt concern myself with it**

**Jackson: Then you two can get closer to her**

**Katniss: I’m not going to trick her like that.  I want to actually be her friend, so you guys had better not ruin it.**

**skillinski: i cant believe she refused me and danny but talks to you and scott**

**puppy1: allison is doing most of the talking tbh**

**puppy1: oh my god she knows we’re talking to someone else while we’re talking to her allison phone dOWN**

**Jackson: Haha**

**Alpha: Would someone care to tell me what’s going on?**

**skillinski: yo sourwolf theres a new girl @bhhs**

**skillinski: scott says she smells supernatural-y**

**Jackson: Last time McCall said someone smelled it turned out that it was alina’s fae s/o**

**Queen: In Scott’s, defense at least someone WAS supernatural**

**Queen: And you agreed that she smelled off.**

**Alpha: Arent you guys in school?**

**Queen: It’s brunch, Derek.**

**skillinski: ye but its brunch**

**Jackson: Ever heard of break?**

**Alpha: I get the point.**

**Alpha: And we’re having a pack meeting after school.  Don’t approach the new kid.**

**Katniss: She’s in our homeroom.  5’7.6, Chinese, has this really cute fleece denim jacket**

**Queen: I might’ve seen her in the F building a few minutes ago**

**DantheMan: She is, and she is kinda cute tbh**

**skillinski: why r u in the F building**

**DantheMan: BHOP leader**

**Katniss: Are you the one she’s meeting with?**

**DantheMan: She’s with me and Alina, apparently**

**skillinski: use your manly charms and woo her into spilling all of her secrets**

**DantheMan: No**

**DantheMan: You saw how well that worked during last period!**

**Alpha: Forget about her for now.  We’ll talk about it after school.**

**Jackson: Dude I thought you were gay**

**DantheMan: Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I can’t check out the merchandise**

**skillinski: hes got you there**

**Alpha: Class.  Now.  All of you.**

**skillinski: yeah yeah sourwolf, we’re moving**

 

“If you’re busy with something, I can always talk later?” Ky tentatively asked, moving to grab her binder.  Scott hurriedly stuffed his phone into his jacket pocket, and Allison pretty much slammed it face down onto the library table.

“No, no!”  Allison blurted.  “We’re not busy!  It was just a thing for a group project.  They were blowing up the chat and would. Not. Stop.”  

“Oh.  Okay.”  Both teens visibly relaxed at her response, glad they hadn’t accidentally driven her away.  “Um, what do you know about Derek Hale?  A lot of kids in my classes are telling me all sorts of things about him.”  

Well that was unexpected.

“Don’t listen to any rumors you hear about him.”  Scott said, leaning forward.  “He didn’t murder anyone, and really isn’t a bad guy!”  Allison gave him a look that screamed _‘Really??_ ’

“I won’t…?  I was just curious, because I heard that his house burned down, like six years ago.  Only him, two sisters, and his uncle survived.  I didn’t know he was charged with murder.  And, um, a lot of people told me they see Scott,” she glanced at him for a second, “hanging around with him a lot.  I might’ve heard something about drugs, too.”

“Derek’s not a bad guy.”  Allison spoke.  “A crazy psycho murdered Laura Hale in the Preserve, along with the other victims Derek was thought to have killed.  It was Kate Argent, who burnt the Hale house down and went on a serial killing spree.”  Ky looked at Allison, picking up on the last name immediately.  “Before you say anything, yes, we’re related.  She was my aunt.  And no, I wasn’t involved, nor did I know about it.”

“Derek has this one dog that always gets into trouble, so my boss, since I work at the vet’s clinic, has me check in with him.  And he doesn’t sell drugs.  He’d be more likeable if he did, though.”  Scott added.

“Enough about murders.  What’s interesting in this town?”

Allison and Scott were more than happy to talk about Beacon Hills, telling Ky everything from the rumors of the high school’s A building being haunted to the story of the time someone played a prank on the entire school faculty until brunch was over.  

Ky moved to grab her stuff, but Allison was already handing Ky her schedule and binder.  

“We both have third period Blake!  This means we can all walk to the B building together.”  She beamed.  

Scott and Allison quickly packed up, grabbing their stuff and moving Ky towards the B building.  On the way, they told her all sorts of little shortcuts.  Never take the B building staircase; everyone always uses the one in the front so there’s always a huge crowd of people trying to get up.  Take the one to the A building instead, since it has a skybridge connecting it to the B building.  If you want to get to the cafeteria line early, ask to use the bathroom and tell your friends to grab your stuff for you.  That way, you can just chill at the front of the line and get your bag later.

When they got to the classroom, most of the seats were taken.  Stiles and a pretty redhead were sitting side by side on the left half of the room.  Scott pulled Allison towards two desks in the middle, leaving an open chair in the back corner for Ky to snag.  There was a pair of twins sitting in the seats in front of the empty desk, and they simultaneously winked at Ky as she sat down.  Scott growled a bit at the gesture, but the twins just grinned back.

She was quiet for the rest of the class, not reacting when her phone buzzed with an unread message.  No one she knew would be texting her at the moment, so she didn’t bother checking it.

“ _Th_ _e offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness._ " This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone.”  Their teacher said, walking into the room.   The twins looked at her with curious glances, but didn’t seem very interested.

Ms. Blake seemed like a nice teacher, and very passionate about literature.  The first book they’d be reading, _Heart of Darkness_ , turned to be one of her favorites.  That was probably why they were starting with the book, but it wasn’t like the class minded.  Stiles, for one, was just looking forward to being free of high school after another two years.  

Not even three minutes into class, Principal Thomas came in and pulled Scott out.  Stiles couldn’t hear what Ms. Blake talked about with Scott in the hallway, but she seemed a little intrigued.  He really didn’t like the look on her face, but she probably had her reasons.   After that, he and Lydia talked, discussing the recent animal behavior when a bird hit the window.  Lydia jumped in her seat, startled by the streak of blood against the window.  

Ms. Blake gestured for everyone to stay in their seats when Ky saw the giant cloud of crows flying towards the school.  When the next bird struck the glass, the teacher backed away from the window.  She looked a bit angry, perhaps at the fact that a horde of birds was more interesting than her lecture, but then the birds started throwing themselves at the windows.

More and more birds started to collide with the glass, and it spun the class into a frenzy.  Most students weres screaming and cowering under their desks while Ky remained seated, arms over her head.  As soon as the glass shattered, the panicked screams grew louder and the black birds dove into the classroom.   Ky was fine staying in her seat, because the birds were largely avoiding her.

She just watched from between the safety of her arms.  Dozens of birds filled the room, screeching and cawing as they dive bombed students.  They seemed to stay away from the teacher and Ky for the most part, giving the two ladies a wide berth and instead focusing on her other classmates.  Through all the noise, she could see Stiles throw himself over the redhead she’d seen with Allison earlier, and the latter curled under a desk.  

Suddenly, someone fisted both hands in her shirt and dragged Ky onto the floor.  When she looked, it turned out to be two individuals with identical faces, the twins who sat in front of her.  “What the hell?!” Twin One hissed.  “Why were you sitting in your seat?  There’re bloodthirsty birds trying to peck our eyes out!”

“I’m not scared of crows, alright?!” She yelled back, as if that was an acceptable excuse.

“It doesn’t matter!  When angry birds fly at your face, you get out of the damn way, not sit there!”  Twin Two shouted over the cawing.

Ky made a face and pulled away from the boy.  The birds hadn’t done much but scratch at the kids, anyway, so she hadn’t been in any kind of danger.  His twin crawled over afterwards, making sure that his brother was alright, which she thought was cute.   Since the desk was out of the equation, Ky scooted into the nearby corner, pressing her back against the wall.  Both twins scuttled over, forming a protective wall around her.  For a moment, Ky could swear their eyes were glowing red.  

Stiles watched from across the room as the twins pulled Ky out of her seat and pushed her towards a corner in the back of the room.  Underneath him, Lydia was shrilly screaming as Ky was boxed in by Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.  They were yelling something at her, but he couldn’t hear jack shit over the birds aside from Lydia’s cries.  Oh man, if only Scott had stayed.

* * *

 

After a good six minutes the horde of birds had thinned, and Stiles noticed that they had literally started dropping out of the air.  There was one still twitching near his foot.  Mildly disgusted, he pulled his leg closer to himself, wanting to put as much distance as possible between him and dead birds.  

Once they were all down for the count, he let go of Lydia and sat upright.

Dead birds and glass shards were scattered all over the floor, feathers floating in the air.  His classmates were laying on the floor or crouching, not quite processing the fact that the threat was gone.  Ms. Blake was by her desk, looking absolutely rattled, while Allison was curled under her desk and the twins he’d seen earlier had Ky backed into a corner.  

Animal control and the police were there soon after, cleaning up the bodies and checking up on all the kids.  The minute Stiles chose to move towards Ky, Chris decided to barge into the classroom, looking for Allison.  One of his dad’s new deputies followed him into the room, saying that parents had to wait in the office to pick up their children.

“Allison, Lydia, are you girls alright?” Chris asked, checking them over for injuries.  “The next time you want to stay home, you stay home, alright?”

“Yeah, okay.”  Allison conceded.  “Lydia and I are both fine.  Maybe a little scratched, but alright.”  Lydia just fluffed her hair and nodded.  

“Stiles, you wouldn’t happen to know what just occurred, would you, son?  Does it have anything to do with,”  the Sheriff made an aborted hand gesture that Stiles interpreted as supernatural bullshit.

He shook his head.  “As far as I know, it was some kind of bird attack.  Maybe you should ask Mr. Argent.”

The Sheriff nodded and called out to Allison’s dad.  Stiles took the opportunity to escape and made a beeline for the corner the twins had more or less trapped Ky in.  Both of them snarled as he approached, flashing bright crimson eyes at him with a hint of fang.  

“Fuck!”  He yelped, stepping back.   _More_ alphas?  Seriously?  Just what the town needed.

Ky wiggled between the twins and pushed one out of the way, and the look he gave her was a bit hilarious.  The other twin automatically moved back, letting her stand up.  Someone came running over, and Ky looked away when she saw who it was.

“Ky!  Are you hurt?”  They asked.  She shook her head.  Stiles looked up to see a guy dressed in a tan deputy’s uniform, who he figured was one of his dad’s subordinates.  

“The twins pulled me out of my seat before the birds to got to me.”  Immediately, his gaze swung around to the two of them.

Tweedle Dumb waved.  “Aiden.”  “Ethan.”  Tweedle Dumber finished, smirking.   Now the deputy was looking at Stiles curiously.

“You must be Stilinski’s kid.”  He gave him a quick once over, but soon looked away.  “Thanks for keeping my daughter out of trouble,” Mr. Zhang said.  Ethan shrugged.  “Someone had to.”  The twin was looking directly at him as he said it, and Stiles saw the nearly imperceptible twitch of his nose.  He rolled his eyes, before reaching over and tugging Ky towards Lydia and Allison.  She waved to her dad before letting Stiles pull her away from the twins.

“Hey Stiles,” Allison greeted.  “Are the twins --” she made the same gesture his dad had.  “You know?”

“Yeah,” he agreed.  “Ky, you’ve met Allison, right?”  

She nodded.  “We talked earlier.”

“Cool.  I’m going to go talk to my dad, so I’ll be back.”  

He walked over to the Sheriff, making Ky let out a noise of surprise.  “I didn’t know the Sheriff was his dad.”

“I would hope Sheriff Stilinski was his dad,” the redhead said.  “I’m Lydia Martin, by the way.  We have Calc BC together.”

“Do you need a ride home?”  Allison interrupted. “My dad could take you if you don’t have anyone else.”

“Sure,”  Ky said.  “If we’re going to be allowed to leave early.”

“Oh please,” Lydia drawled.  “After something like this, they’ll let anyone who says they’re scared go home.  Plus, I don’t think your dad wants you to stay much longer, either.”  She pointedly looked over to where her dad was angrily talking to the principal.

In the end, Principal Thomas decided that Ms. Blake’s third period class was done for the day.  All of the students were to go home, and come back the next day like nothing happened.  Most of the kids were okay with it, but some asked if they could stay the rest of the day. Why, Ky had no idea, but more power to them.

Ky’s dad was reluctant at first, insisting that he could drive her home in the cruiser, but the Sheriff told him he had to stay and get statements.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she gets home safe.”  Mr. Argent said, shooing Ky’s dad away.

“I’ll call when I get home,” she reassured him.  “I’ll be fine.”

He left the small group in favor of talking to Ms. Blake, and Ky excused herself to grab some things from her locker before they left.

Stiles walked out into the hall as Ky was closing up her locker.  A notebook slipped out before the door was fully closed, but Ky hadn’t seemed to notice it.  She walked over to where Allison and Lydia were waiting for her, so Stiles went and picked it up.

  
It was small, maybe five by eight inches and had a worn black cover, but what caught his eye was the word embossed in silver on the cover.  Someone had scratched it out, so he couldn’t read it. Stiles turned to give it to Ky, but the girl in question had disappeared, along with Lydia and the Argents.  

* * *

 

Truth be told, the birds hadn’t frightened Ky.  

Angry birds never scared her, never mind crows, which she loved.  In fact, she probably would’ve tried to pet one if Ethan and Aiden hadn’t dragged her down, but oh well.  She wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to skip school and go straight home.

Nature was never something that bothered Ky; she got along with it quite well.  She’d never been bitten by a bug, never gotten a splinter or scratched by branches while hiking, attacked by a wild animal, or been at risk during a natural disaster, provided she was even near one.  Even weirder, Ky wasn’t the best at singing but not horrid, so it always came as a shock when birds answered her voice.  If anyone was the child of Mother Nature, it would’ve been Ky.

(“You’re pushing your luck here,” Lydia had told her.  “We get lots of animal attacks and nature problems here.”)

Mr. Argent dropped Lydia off first, letting the redhead out at a very extravagant looking two story white colonial.  It had one of the longest driveways Ky had ever seen.  After, he drove to the address Ky gave him.   Her mother’s white Honda was absent, so she’d be home alone until six.

As she was thanking Allison’s dad for the ride, Allison pointed at the house on the right.  “Hey Dad, Ky lives next to Stiles!”  Ky looked over and saw a sky blue Jeep, one that had been in the student lot in the morning.

“So she does.  Maybe Stiles should’ve offered her a ride,” Mr. Argent joked.

Ky finished her goodbyes and got out of the car.  She waited until the Argents’ big red SUV had pulled out of her driveway before unlocking her front door and stepping inside.  It smelled like citrus inside, and Ky thought of the pastries her mom had been baking that morning.  

She made her way into the dining room, slinging her messenger bag around her chair at the kitchen table.  The girl settled into another chair and laughed when a large tan blur came streaking out of the kitchen and slamming into her legs.  The dog sniffed, recoiling at some scent on Ky, but started licking at her hands as she went to pet him.

“Shouto,” she crooned, scratching his favorite spot behind his right ear.  “Where’s your brother?  Did Dad take him to the station?”  The big dog barked, which she took as a yes.  “Speaking of Dad, I should call him.  Stay put, Shou."

Ky dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed her dad.  He picked up on the first ring.  “Hello?  Are you home safe?”

“I got home just fine.   Oh, did you take Katsuki to the station with you?  I found Shou, but Katsu is missing.”

“We didn’t get his new work harness, so he should be home.  If not, he’ll come back.  You remember the last time we lost the dogs?”  He laughed.  “They came home the next day absolutely filthy and covered in mud, but they looked so damn happy about their tromp through the woods.”

“I remember.  Shouto looked pleased with himself.”  At the sound of his name, Shou’s ears perked up and he looked up at Ky.  “Oh well.  I’ll find Katsuki later, but I just wanted to say I’m home.  See you when you get off.”

“Bye, Ky.”  

She hung up and went back to absentmindedly petting the dog.  He leaned into his owner’s touch, happily panting.  After a few more moments of lazy head scratches, Shouto barked and nudged Ky’s leg.  Reluctantly, she got up and trudged up the stairs to her room, Shouto following her and flopping onto her comforter once she shut the bedroom door.

Ky sat down at her desk and reached for her laptop before she realized it was downstairs, with the rest of her school stuff.  She sighed but went back into  the kitchen for her bag and also grabbed a plate of the previous night’s leftover steak tips, intending to share them with Shouto.  

On her way back to the stairs, something rammed into the back of her calves, nearly making Ky pitch forward.  She caught herself before she fell flat on her face, and turned around to look at the attacker.  Katsuki looked up at her from the floor and happily barked.

“You’re such a bad dog, you know that?  I can’t believe you’re actually in the K-9 unit.”  Ky scolded, picking her bag back up.  Katsuki just wagged his tail and headbutted her legs again, as if to tell her to keep moving.   Shouto happily barked when his owner came back with Katsuki, even leaping off of her bed to pad over to  the other dog.  When he saw the plate in Ky’s hands, he trotted over with his tongue hanging out, giving her huge puppy eyes.

She tossed him a piece of the meat which he eagerly snapped up, licking his nose once he was finished.  Katsuki jumped to catch his slice in his mouth, nearly landing on top of Shouto afterwards.  Ky laughed at their antics before sitting down at her desk with her laptop.  Shou made himself comfortable on top of her bed after another piece of steak while Katsuki shut the bedroom door.  He flopped onto the other dog, snuggling into the puppy pile and glared when Shouto sneezed on him.

Ky rolled her eyes and entered the URL for Beacon Hills’ single library.  She wanted to check out a copy of _Heart of Darkness_ since Katsuki had ruined her personal copy two before the move.  He had chewed it up with a vengeance, not looking the least bit guilty when he was done and Ky had found the paperback laying on her floor in spit-covered tatters.  His punishment was not being allowed in Ky’s room until they moved into the new house, which made Katsuki whiny and desperate.  He’d always sit outside her door and howl, trying to convince her to let him back into the room.  

After she placed a hold (she was first in line!) Ky pulled up her research document.  It was chock full of information, mainly on different plants and chemical compounds.  She did it for fun, just to learn more about the world around her.  Plus, now that she lived in Beacon Hills, which had a nature preserve, it seemed like a good idea to learn about the local wildlife.  At least this way, Ky knew which berries were edible and which would give her cardiac arrest.  

Shouto suddenly jumped down from the bed, wrinkling Ky’s comforter and throwing Katsuki.  She spun around to look at him as he started to violently bark at the open window.  Huh, Ky didn;t remember opening it.  

“Shou, stop that.  There’s nothing out there.”  She reprimanded, already going back to her poisonous plant research.  Then Katsuki glanced at the window and snarled, quickly adding to the cacophony of noise.  Ky sighed in exasperation, letting them growl at the empty backyard for another minute before the noise started to grate on her nerves.  She got up and walked over to the window, tugging on her dogs’ collars.  Neither of them moved, but they stopped barking, which Ky counted as a win in her book. 

Now they were just staring at the treeline, silently watching.  Something glowing red popped into existence for a split second,  and blinked out just as quickly.  Ky convinced herself that she was just seeing things, and there must’ve been a squirrel in the backyard.  When she sat down, Katsuki placed his paws on the windowsill and leaned out, growling.  The little crimson lights didn’t reappear, but the dog didn’t get down.

Katsuki and Shouto stayed there for a couple of minutes,  aggressively watching the backyard as angrily as two dogs could.  Once they were satisfied nothing was out there, they both climbed into Ky’s lap, snuggling close to her.  Well, it was more like both of them were half on her thighs, since they were both pretty big.  One of them rubbed their nose against her arm, temporarily blocking her keyboard while the other licked as much skin as he could reach.

“Guys, _stop_!  I already took a shower this morning!”  She whined.  Shouto pulled back from scent-marking her neck, looking slightly guilty, but Katsuki continued to rub his nose under Ky’s chin.  Ky resigned herself to a tongue bath, not really willing to shove the dogs away.  Once they were done, she continued her botany research in peace while also feeding them bits of meat every now and then.

Amanda got home first, old Honda pulling into the driveway into the spot where her husband’s cruiser usually sat.  

Ky’s mom worked downtown in her own shop on Main Street, and sold almost everything.  From books to plants, there was always something people needed, whenever they needed them.  

A rare, out-of-print baseball card?  Check Books ‘n Things.  Amanda probably has it laying around gathering dust.  Special, non-native tea leaves that only grow in the permafrost?  Amanda might have it in storage, and will sell it to you for $40 rather than the $2,300 on the shady website you found.  Someone heard that she has black market connections.  Where else could she get her hands on authentic bullet casings from WWII?

Their town was sad when the Zhang’s announced their move, partially because Books ‘n Things would be closing, and because Ky’s dad was one of the most respectable deputies in town.  Luckily, one of Amanda’s friends was willing to keep the original location open.  In fact, it caused her to open up multiple locations all over California.  Other old friends of her mother’s decided that their towns needed its own Books ‘n Things.  Needless to say, the residents loved it.

“Ky, are you home?” Her mom called, voice floating up the stairs.  “I brought takeout!”  Katsuki was out of Ky’s lap in a flash.  If there was anything he loved more than Ky, it was unhealthy takeout.  Shouto followed soon after, lured by the scent of tasty food.  Ky trudged downstairs after them, hoping her mom bought silk tofu with shrimp meat.  

“Hello, daughter of mine.  How was your first day?”  Amanda asked, unpacking the white boxes.  

“Mom, you know exactly what happened.” Ky whined, leaning her head against her mom’s shoulder.  

“Maybe I want to hear it from my kid,” she defended.  “Your father told me someone gave you a ride home?”

Ky sighed.  “Argent.”  At the name, Katsuki lowly growled. “Allison’s nice.  She was the only one to openly approach me, aside from the Sheriff’s son.”

“Oh, the Stilinski boy?  He was rattling around the shop earlier.  Looking for a rare strain of aconite.”  Amanda shrugged.  “I’m glad you made some new friends, honey.  It’s good to know the right people in a place like Beacon Hills.”


	2. chaos rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which stiles becomes mildly less suspicious of the new kid, ky has a dog (or two) and stiles is more magic that he is in canon because jeff davis never revisited the stiles-is-a-spark thing and im so not upset about it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know that black wolfsbane actually isnt that rare, but bear with me here  
> mrs mahealani is the art teacher now, btws

“Where’s the rest of the pack?” Erica lazily asked, swinging her legs from where they were thrown over the back of Derek’s couch.  The only other people in the living room was Derek, Isaac, and Lydia, who were all uninterested in anything but their phones.  Except Derek, who was scowling at anything that moved, just like always.

The alpha glared at her from across the room.  “Put your feet down.”  

After a brief staring contest, the beta reluctantly took her feet off of the couch, only to shove them onto Isaac’s lap.  He grumbled but didn’t push them away, too immersed in whatever game he was playing to actually do anything.  From the couch facing theirs, Lydia snorted at the werewolves’ antics and looked up from her messages.

“Your other betas are at lacrosse, Allison is with her dad, and Danny’s skipping band for lacrosse as well.”  She paused for a second, before adding “and Stiles is right behind you,” almost as if it was an afterthought.

Slowly, Derek turned around.  Lo and behold, Stiles was standing a few feet into the kitchen, balancing on his tiptoes and attempting to steal a package of Oreos.

“What the fuck.” The alpha stated.

“Hi,” Stiles waved, slowly pushing the cookies back into the cabinet.  “ I guess this means my spell worked.”

“What spell.”

“Theonethatimadethatconcealsmyscentfromwerewolves?  Soo, where is everyone/” Stiles said all at once, making Isaac roll his eyes.  

Lydia arched a perfectly drawn eyebrow.  “Only experienced magic users can create their own spells, Stiles.  You’ve been a spark for all of six months, and have no training whatsoever, aside from mountain ash circles.  Derek’s more qualified than you are.”

“I’m hurt, Lydia!”

The rest of the pack more or less shrugged, agreeing with Lydia and not defending Stiles’ magic abilities.  He looked a little hurt, but huffed and reached for the Oreos again.  When the plastic loudly crackled, Derek looked like he was contemplating either Stiles’ murder or his own, but left the kitchen in favor of sinking onto one of the couches in the living room.

After the pack’s sophomore year and their constant complaining about not having an actual meeting place, he decided to rebuild the house.   Sure, Derek had the loft, but it was easier to hold pack meetings at the house where there was more than one couch and enough space for the betas to do homework in separate rooms.   And this way, he had his own private space free of angsting teenage werewolves.  They could text him about their problems in the future instead of randomly showing up in his living room and eating all of his food.

The backdoor in the kitchen opened, and the rest of the pack spilled in, smelling of grass and non-pack members.  They were all still wearing their lacrosse jerseys, like they were in too much of a hurry to properly change.  In Scott and Allison's case, probably too busy making out behind the bleachers for Scott to get changed.

“Hey, we’re here,” Scott announced.  “And if Stiles can make his own spells or whatever, why can’t he magic some answers out of Ky?”

“That would make things a lot easier., but according to Mr.I-Only-Deal-In-Cryptic-Remarks would say, 'that's not how this works'.”  Erica grumbled with a pointed look at Stiles.  He raised defensively raised his hands, but not before shoving another cookie in his mouth.  One of Jackson's eyes twitched at the loud crunch he made.

“Like I was saying, only very talented and experienced druids can create their own magic.  Not even Deaton is able to write his own spells.  It’s like asking Jackson to suddenly take up ballet and then he becomes the principal dancer within weeks.”  Jackson looked offended by Lydia’s statement, but Isaac cut him off before he could say anything.

“Enough about Stiles and his weird powers,” the beta whined.  “Why is there a pack meeting?  I’m too tired for this.”

“We’re going to talk about the alphas, except some of us had lacrosse practice.”

* * *

“Okay, let me get this straight.”  Isaac said, holding his hands in a time out pose.  “Deucalion’s the leader, the alpha of alphas, Kali is his second-in-command, Ennis is the muscle, and the twins can _fuse together into a super alpha_?  Also, that,” he pointed towards Peter’s shadowy corner, “Is still in the pack?”

“Yes to all of that.” Derek sighed.  

“For the record, I hate your creeper uncle,” Jackson loudly said.  “Liked him better dead.”

“The sentiment’s mutual,” Peter cooly replied, looking back down at his book.  

* * *

The second day of school was less eventful.  Stiles had wanted to get up early and offer Ky a ride to school.  He knew she lived close enough to his house, since he had seen her walking the day before.  It would’ve been a way to get to know her better, but he woke up late.

“Crap, crap, crap,” he muttered, quickly throwing on whatever smelled okay and stuffed his feet into his shoes.   School was starting in fifteen minutes, and Stiles still had to get his stuff together.  And God forbid his Jeep would stall, making him even later than usual.

Before he went downstairs, the vase sitting on his desk caught his eye.  After school yesterday, and after the pack meeting, he had ducked into the new shop that opened on Main St.  It advertised books and a myriad of other miscellaneous items, so Stiles decided that a quick peek couldn’t hurt.  The store turned out to be locally owned, and a book/magic/gift shop with great prices.  He ended up leaving with a strangely authentic looking spellbook and a fully grown indian aconite plant.  It was hard to obtain seeds and then grow them, but the owner’s daughter had grown the plants herself.  Stiles got it for $45 and a promise not to poison anyone’s food, which was pretty good considering that Allison’s dad would probably sell it as a dried powder, and for a higher price.  If he’d sell it to a minor at all.

In the end, he tucked a handful into the chest pocket of his plaid before rushing downstairs and into his Jeep, praying to whatever god was listening that he wouldn’t be late.

Stan, one of the security guards, was already patrolling the parking lot when Stiles pulled in.  He gave all the arriving kids the stink eye from his golf cart, sending an extra grumpy one in Stiles’ direction.  It was like the guy had some problem with Stiles in specific, which he wouldn’t really be surprised about.  He had a habit of coming in just shy of late, which any discipline officer would have a problem with.

Everyone knew Stan and Mark -- BHHS’s two security guards -- were complete and utter lazy fucks.  After sophomore year, they started pulling their weight which didn’t worry the pack that much.  They’d still be able to sneak around, but they had to do it a little more stealthier.   

“I’m watching you, Stilinski.”  Stan warned him.  “I know what you’re up to with the new student, and that shit isn’t going to fly with me.”

“Whatever, man.”  Stiles laughed.  Neither of them had ever busted him last year.  Mark was too busy playing Candy Crush and Stan just didn’t care.  Both of them were notorious for not catching anyone, so the student body wasn’t too concerned.  Then a month before Gerard set up shop, Mark and Stan started getting suspicious of the pack and Scott in particular, but never really made a move.  They hadn’t earned the name ‘Bacon Hills security guards’ for nothing.  ((Stiles had stolen the ‘E’ off their sign when he was a freshman and the name stuck.))

Stiles made it to Stein's class with exactly four seconds to spare.  He was surprised, because normally it took him three minutes, running, to get to the Monroe building from the student parking lot.  And his phone had told him he had sixty seconds to get to class.  Shrugging to himself, he entered the class as Stein was taking roll.

“Stilinski…?  Stilinski…?”  Mr. Stein drawled.  “Oh, there you are.  Please be seated.”

On his way to his seat. Stiles discreetly placed one of the wolfsbane blooms on Ky’s desk, trying to gauge her reaction.  She gave it an inquisitive glance and a cursory sniff before pushing it to the edge of the desk with her pen.  There wasn’t any sneezing, or forced shifting, so Stiles figured she was clear for now.

Scott wrinkled his nose at the smell, inhaling oxygen tainted with the wolfsbane.  “Dude, that stinks.  You reek of it.  Why’d you have to bring it?  I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Suck it up, Scotty.”  

 _supernatural things are supposed to react to that type of wolfsbane, werewolf or not,_ Stiles jotted down on a piece of paper, and passed it to Scott.

“Still makes me woozy, Stiles.  If I pass out from wolfsbane inhalation, it’s your fault.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

They sat through the rest of the lecture silently, jotting down vague facts about this history of calculus.  Not many people were paying attention, other than the AVID kids, hurrying to collect as many notes as possible to fill their weekly quota.  Junior year was hectic for almost everyone, but Stiles really pitied the college prep kids.  He’d heard that their requirement had gotten bumped up another five, which sucked.

“Hey Stiles,”  Morgan asked, leaning over.  “Can I, like, borrow all of Lahey’s old Japanese notes?  None of the tutors are in Japanese this year  and I’m short, uh, six pages.”

“Sorry,”  Stiles apologized.  “Isaac didn’t come in today.  I have some old physics notes you can keep, though.”

“You’re a fucking lifesaver, Stilinski.”

Stiles shrugged and went back to his worksheets and tried not to fall asleep.  Fifteen minutes later, someone pushed a thick sheaf of paper under his drooping head.  All of the fresh highlighter fumes wafting off of it made him wake right up.

“For Morgan,”  Ky simply said, going back to her book.  Huh, she finished early.  

He quickly looked at them.  There were over twelve pages of binder paper with neatly printed Japanese all over both sides.  To top it all off, there was bright marker streaks highlighting what Stiles guessed was important bits to remember, even if he couldn’t understand anything aside from the character for a couple numbers and death.  Morgan choked when he slid them onto his desk, eagerly picking the notes up and reading them.  

“Dude, I can _totally_ use these!  Where the hell did you get them?”

“Ky.  What do they say?”

“Fuckin’ song lyrics, man.   _Song lyrics_.  With questions and everything.”  Morgan laughed, and set the papers down.

“Aren’t they too neat to be your handwriting?  It looks like a printer spit those out.” Stiles noted.  

“I can say that I typed them up online.  They won’t know the difference.’

He shrugged and watched Ky turn in her classwork with a small smile.  

 

**to: one hale of a pack**

**skillinski: is isaac okay?? i have some isaac specific questions**

**Alpha: Why?**

**skillinski: it involves new girl**

**puppy2: wha u want im still working the stupid wolfsbane sedative out**

**skillinski: ever seen japanese thats so neat it looks like the stuff printers spit out**

**skillinski: rephrase: super neatly written japanese that looks like it was typed up on a computer**

**puppy2: no**

**skillinski: also when do you have japanese**

**puppy2: fuck if i know i didnt make it to roundup, did i**

**Alpha: Seventh period Nakamura.**

**Alpha: They mailed it home.**

**Catwoman: wait ur actually his legal guardian??**

**Alpha: Yes.**

**Alpha: Aren’t you two in class?**

**skillinski: you care about our education, how sweet**

**skillinski: for the record, i finished stein’s dumb worksheets and his homework so i can use my phone**

**Catwoman: empty first**

**skillinski: I loathe you**

**Catwoman <3**

**skillinski: @ any rate kys in ur class and she writes japanese like a machine good luck**

**Alpha: Get off your phone before I rip your throat out.**

**skillinski: with ur teeth, yeah yeah**

**Alpha: With my teeth.**

**Catwoman: its so disgustingly cute that they can finish each others sentences**

**Alpha: Class.  Now.**

 

Scott threw a paper ball at Stiles’ face.  He unfolded it and saw the note scribbled down.

 

**_another pack meeting on friday_ **

**_((derek says so))_ **

 

Stiles rolled his eyes.

\---

After Stein was over and done with, Stiles met up with the majority of the pack in the cafeteria.  Jackson, Scott, Allison, and Isaac were all missing.  Isaac was still recovering at Derek’s swanky new loft, whole Scott and Jackson probably had some mandatory lacrosse meeting for first line that Allison tagged along to.    It wouldn’t be the first that she went to, and probably wouldn’t be the last.  

“Derek mentioned something about Boyd last night,” Danny started.  “Do we have any idea where he might be?”

“No,” Lydia said.  “Isaac took an ice bath and remembered that Boyd and mystery girl were trapped underground, which is what Erica told us.”

“Maybe Ky was the other girl?”  Danny speculated.  “She did move in around the same time that they were taken.  And rumor is that she wasn’t scared of the birds yesterday.”

“Yeah, well.”  Stiles muttered.  “Not all birds are terrifying.”

“You sound like you’re defending Ky,” Lydia accused.  “What if she turns out to actually be evil?  We were all convinced that Peter really was comatose and therefore not a danger, when he was the alpha all along.”

Stiles was about to make a snappy retort, probably somewhere along the lines of ‘but Peter wanted revenge for the slaughter of his family, what the hell would Ky want’, but he was saved by the bell -- literally.  The situation de-escalated when the remaining pack members slid into their seats as the brunch bell rang.  Isaac and Scott yawned, totally oblivious to the conversation they were having.

“Any thoughts on new girl?”  The redhead innocently asked.  “Stiles is firmly rooted in the belief that there is no possible way for the new student to be supernatural in any way at all.”  

Jackson snorted, twirling a pen with his fingers.  “Seems familiar.  Shy, sweet new girl moves to Beacon Hills.  So nice, that birds probably tweet whenever she sings.  And then everyone finds out that she actually belongs to one of the oldest and powerful hunter families.  No offense, Allison.” She shrugged.

“If Ky was a hunter, I’d know.  Beacon Hills is Argent territory, so anyone passing through is required by law to check in with my dad.  Visiting isn’t allowed unless you call ahead, or stay at our house.  Plus, Zhang isn’t a hunter family, unless they’re brand new.  Even then, wouldn't one of you guys run into her dad in the woods?”

“I haven’t met her yet,” Isaac said.  “Does she really seem that dangerous?”

“Just wait.  She’s probably going to come and talk to Allison some time today.”  Danny said dismissively.  “Seems to like her.”

“Anyone that likes Allison ends up having a few screws loose, supernatural, or both”  Jackson laughed.  Erica flicked a plastic spoonful of maybe-mashed potatoes and snickered.  “What, it’s true!”

When third rolled around, Stiles was very surprised to see Ms. Blake already at her desk, seemingly fine.  He shrugged, and made his way to his seat near Lydia.  Ky was nowhere to be seen until she came in nine seconds before the final bell rang, flanked by the twins.  Tweedle Dumb (he was the slightly taller one) muttered something, making Ky hold onto the strap of her bag a little tighter.  Her other hand was curled around a thick band of fabric, but Stiles couldn’t tell what it was.  She slipped into her seat just as Ms. Blake started to take roll.

He zoned out for a while after that, paying just enough attention to the teacher when she started to read the first couple chapters of Heart of Darkness out loud.  A neatly folded square of paper was placed on his desk just as Ms. Blake turned to face the blackboard.  
“Pass that to Lydia,” Nick whispered.  Stiles nodded, but unfolded the note after Nick went back to his notes.  Drawn in the center of the square was the pack symbol of the alphas, clearly inked in black.  It was identical to the one painted onto Derek’s door, but this time, it wasn’t in blood.  There was nothing else on the page, no name or signature to identify who drew it.  

“Alpha pack,” he whispered.  Stiles furiously whipped his head around, looking at all of his classmates.  No one was looking at him, too immersed in their note taking, even the alpha twins.  Ky was the only one openly staring in his direction.  At any other given moment, Stiles might think that she was staring off into space and she was just in her line of sight, but there was a laser-like focus in her dark eyes.

 

_**I think Ky drew this** _

 

Stiles scrawled onto a corner of the paper before sliding it to Lydia.  She wrinkled her nose at the drawing.

“Stiles, what is this?”  Lydia said, re-folding the note.  

“Nick passed it to me and said to give it to you.  I think Ky drew it -- do you know what it is?  A _pack symbol_ .  For a pack of _alphas_.”  He hissed.  

“And you think _she_ is with them?”  The redhead dubiously asked, glancing at the girl in question.  “I think Bambi over there isn’t the type to run with the wolves, much less multiple alphas, Stiles.”

“Neither did Allison, and you saw what happened when Derek bit her mom.”  The boy pointed out.

“Mr. Stilinski, Ms. Martin, is there something more interesting than my lecture?”  Ms. Blake asked, turning from the blackboard.

“I was just thinking that maybe, the unexplored forest in the text might represent the darkness surrounding all men’s hearts that everyone struggles to overcome.”  The redhead smoothly said, twirling a pencil in her manicured fingers.  Their teacher was stunned for a moment but quickly recovered.

“That is a good thesis, but it’s a little too early to be thinking about what you’ll write your paper on, Lydia.  Now,” she went back to the whiteboard.  “Does anyone play chess?”

Tweedle Dumb laughed while Tweedle Dumber smirked at Lydia.  

* * *

 Ky followed Stiles, Allison, Scott, and Lydia to the pack’s cafeteria table when the lunch bell rang after third.  Allison patted the seat next to her and Ky sank into it with a small sigh.  Belatedly, Stiles noticed that there was a tawny-brown dog at her feet, so Ky must’ve been holding a leash at the beginning of class.

“Ky, right?”  Erica asked, leaning over the table.  “I’m Erica Reyes.  We have phys honors together.”

“With him, right?” She quietly asked, pointing in Jackson’s direction.  He grunted and shrugged.  “You’re all in my classes.”  Ky squinted, looking at all of them.

“Are we?” Scott asked, faking interest.

“You have two other classes with her and we’ve all talked about this at one point or another.”  Lydia pointed out.  

There was a lull in the conversation after that, and the pack silently ate and traded looks. Ky didn’t seem to notice them glancing around at each other, thank god.  Scott was the first one to break the ice.

“You have a service dog?” He exclaimed, immediately shoving his face under the table.  Stiles leaned back and saw a large mass of tawny fur curled protectively around Ky’s chair, along with the ‘Please don’t pet me, I’m working :^)’ sign attached to a harness.

“Oh, this is Shouto.  He used to just be a ESA but we trained him and got him registered as a service dog a few years back.”  She explained.

“I didn’t see him yesterday” Lydia noted.  “Was he here?”

“No...I left him at home.  The principal hadn’t cleared the paperwork yet.”

“This is probably super insensitive of me, but what’s he for.” Jackson bluntly said, raising an eyebrow.

Shouto whined and pushed his nose into Ky’s lap.  “Um...I'd rather not talk about it.  I will say that he's good at what he does, but I can’t say the same thing about his brother even if Katsuki’s a K-9.  He almost never listens at home but he’s a perfect angel in the field.  
Erica and Isaac burst out laughing at the description of Ky’s other dog.  Even Allison giggled a bit.  Ky gave them all a puzzled look and tilted her head.  “What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry,” Scott said, wiping away tears of laughter.  “It’s just that Stiles, he volunteers at the Preserve sometimes and Deaton rescued a wolf a while ago - he’s snarly and hates everything, but he behaves when he wants to.”

Stiles’ cheeks turned pink and he looked away.  “Maybe you dog’ll get along with Sourwolf.” He muttered.  

As the pack laughed at him, the twins passed by their table, making Shouto abruptly stand and bark at them.  He crawled out from underneath the table to growl at the twins and Stiles choked on his milk.

“ _Oh my god that is a wolf_.” He spluttered, arms flailing.  Tweedle Dumb warily eyed the dog/wolf.

“Not quite -- Shouto’s a Czechoslovakian wolfdog.  So, not exactly a wolf.” Ky explained, tugging on his leash.  “Leave the twins alone, Shou.” He snarled one last time and reluctantly re-coiled himself  around Ky’s legs.  

For the rest of brunch, the pack made mindless smalltalk about anything .  The new rolled ice cream place at the Plaza, the tea cafe all of the popular girls frequented, and so forth.  Stiles brought up Books ‘N Things a couple times, pointing out some cool knickknacks he’d seen in the store.  When the bell rang, Danny realized that he shared fifth period Wilson with Ky.

The two of them walked to APUSH together, making small talk until they got to the classroom.

“Hey, what other electives do you have?”  Danny asked.  “I’m just curious if we share any more classes.”

“Art and Japanese.  And if they have open slots, I might fill my empty, but I don’t know.”

“Funny, my mom’s the art teacher.”

Mr. Wilson was a bit taken aback when Ky brought Shou into the class.  Once Ky explained that he was a registered service dog with the school, the teacher relaxed and shrugged.  As long as he wasn’t too big of a distraction to the other kids, he could stay.

Shouto settled in front of Ky’s desk and put his head on his paws, only softly growling once throughout the entire class.  Most of the boys thought that he was cool as a wolf hybrid, until Ky said that he was a service dog.

“I thought only blind people needed service dogs,” one of them said.

“If you have any kind of life-disabling condition, you qualify for a service dog.”  They didn’t ask anymore questions after that.

She was the first one to leave the room, quickly being lead to the front and out the door by her dog.  She almost ran into Jackson on the way out, who was waiting for Danny. He mentioned something about the girl reeking of anxiety so, he hung back to give her space.  

During lunch, Ky didn’t sit with the pack.  Jackson saw her outside through a cafeteria window, laughing with a tall Asian boy he’d never seen before.  Shouto was decidedly missing, and Ky didn’t seem to notice.

“Maybe he was in her car?” Lydia suggested when he brought it up.

“Service dogs are supposed to be with their owners at all times while they’re on-duty.” Scott replied.  

* * *

 

That afternoon, the pack got together at Derek’s loft.  Peter was there as well, unfortunately, and was unhelpful as always.  His only contribution was that their entire plan to break into the vault and rescue the beta was a dumb plan that was going to put them exactly where Deucalion wanted them.  Isaac was too busy shivering on the couch with a cup of hot tea in his hands to be of any help in the discussion.  

“Look, forget the damn drill.  If I go down, how much space do I have?” Derek impatiently said, putting his hands on the drafting table.  

“Like you and your pecs can fit into the small shaft,” Stiles muttered.  

“I’m serious, Stiles.”

“Alright, okay, fine.  You want to punch through that wall?  The wall made of solid concrete?  Have at it, dude.  Show me your fist.  Big ol’ fist.  My hand’s the wall, now just -- _crap_ , ow, okay, the big strong alpha can punch through the wall.  Sorry for ever doubting your alpha masculinity.”

“Now that we have that covered, someone else has to come with me.”

“Do I have to remind you what we're up against here? A pack of alphas. All of them, killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha. I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids. They're gonna be missed.” Peter explained.  “I’m not going.”

“Seriously, can we kill him again?”  

Derek looked close enough to second that decision.

* * *

 

Their plan to save Boyd didn’t turn out too well.  

The alphas had been planning the entire thing, and were hoping that Boyd and _Derek’s younger sister_ would tear him to pieces, or vice versa.  The evening ended with the pack angry at the alphas or each other, and Boyd plus Cora lose on the town in their near-feral state.  As per usual, Peter was no help to the situation, and the pack was fresh out of ideas, aside from run through the Preserve and hope that they didn’t find Boyd and Cora violently ripping some innocent hiker apart.

Scott blamed himself for not listening to Stiles’ warning, Derek blamed himself for not being able to stop his betas and the alphas for being such assholes, Allison was sorry that she let two bloodthirsty werewolves loose on the town, and Erica was upset that Boyd wasn’t with them, but also ecstatic that he was still alive.

Just another day in Beacon Hills, if the pack was going to be honest with themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so s orry? this chapter is trash and i know it,,,,

**Author's Note:**

> i can already feel all of you silently judging me


End file.
